Finidi George, 11 Other Super Eagles 1994 Members Who Became Coaches
Legit.ng journalist Ridwan Adeola Yusuf has over 9 years of experience covering sports and football.
FCT, Abuja - The Super Eagles of Nigeria team in 1994 paraded some gifted athletes that earned the squad respect.
The team, which boasted fine players like Finidi George, Rashidi Yekini, and others, is deemed arguably the best Super Eagles squad to date.
The Nigerian team of that year won the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) and also did fairly well at the world cup in the USA.
Finidi, an Ajax of Amsterdam football legend, is the current manager (interim) of the Super Eagles. He joggles the job with his head coach role at Enyimba.
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Legit.ng highlights other players from the respected 1994 team who have gone on to embrace football coaching.
1) Alloy Agu
Agu retired at the age of 30, after having spent most of his career in Africa.
He has served as the goalkeeping coach for Enyimba. Agu is also a former goalkeeper coach of the Super Eagles.
2) Stephen Keshi (Late)
Nicknamed 'the Big Boss', Keshi achieved success by qualifying Togo for the only FIFA world cup appearance in its history in 2006.
He later coached his native Nigeria, where he became one of only two people, along with Egypt's Mahmoud El-Gohary, to have won the Africa Cup of Nations as both a player and a coach.
3) Austin Eguavoen
Fondly called 'Cerezo', Eguavoen thrice served as manager of the Nigeria national team.
Since his first coaching job in 1999 in Malta with Sliema Wanderers, the former defender has worked in at least 7 other different teams.
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4) Nduka Ugbade
In August 2011, Ugbade was appointed by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to be one of the two assistant coaches for the Golden Eaglets (Nigeria's under-17 national football team).
In 2013, the team won the silver medal in the CAF U-17 tournament in Algeria, and claimed the 2013 FIFA U-17 world cup trophy in the UAE.
Ugbade, 54, is also a former head coach of the defunct MFM FC.
5) Sunday Oliseh
Oliseh started his coaching career in Belgium with youth teams in the country's third division Verviers, notably the under-19 team.
In 2015–16, he was appointed by the NFF as the chief coach of the Super Eagles.
During his unveiling, Amaju Pinnick, the NFF president at the time, famously called the former Juventus and Borussia Dortmund midfielder Africa's Pep Guardiola.
Since his one-year stint with Nigeria, Oliseh has trained Fortuna Sittard in The Netherlands and Germany's SV 19 Straelen.
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6) Samson Siasia
Siasia has coached the Nigerian under-20, under-23, and senior national teams.
Although, multiple reports said he has applied for the vacant Super Eagles head coach job, the 56-year-old denied the claim.
7) Daniel Amokachi
Amokachi, nicknamed "The Bull", moved into coaching upon retiring in 2005.
He has spent time as manager of Nasarawa United, Enyimba, Ifeanyi Ubah and JS Hercules in Finland. He has also spent two spells as assistant coach of Nigeria, as well as managing his nation on an interim basis from 2014 to 2015.
8) Emmanuel Amunike
Amunike has completed coaching courses.
Among other teams, Amunike has coached the Nigerian under-17 side and 'the Taifa Stars' of Tanzania.
Presently, he is widely touted as the next manager of the Super Eagles following Jose Peseiro's exit after AFCON 2023.
9) Wilfred Agbonavbare (Late)
After retiring as a player, Agbonavbare worked as a goalkeeper coach.
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He was back-up to Peter Rufai in 1994.
Agbonavbare succumbed to cancer in January 2015, aged 48.
10) Michael Emenalo
Emenalo, the current sports director of the Saudi Pro League, was a former assistant coach at Chelsea.
During his time at Chelsea, he was credited as being the driving force behind The Blues' most influential signings.
Emenalo oversaw the scouting and transfers of key players including Eden Hazard, Juan Mata, Thibaut Courtois, Kevin De Bruyne, Mohamed Salah, Cesc Fabregas, and N'Golo Kanté.
11) Ben Iroha
Following his retirement in 2000, Iroha returned to the US - where he played in his active days - to coach in the youth department of FC Dallas.
He was an assistant with the Nigerian U-17 team that won the 2007 world cup and head coach of Dolphins FC (now Rivers United).
We want to make Nigerians proud - Finidi
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Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Finidi said his goal as Super Eagles boss is to ensure that his team performs very well in their upcoming international friendly games, to make Nigerians proud.
The Super Eagles will confront West African arch-rivals Ghana in an international friendly on Friday, March 22. They (Nigeria) will also face Mali.
Source: Legit.ng
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